Man claims daughter abducted under fake Irish passport

A Jewish father in New York is fighting to have his 11-year-old daughter returned after she was taken to Ireland under a passport he claims had been fraudulently signed.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has demanded that the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin, which issues passports, cancels the Irish passport issued to his daughter. She lived in New York two years ago, before, he alleges, being abducted by her mother and taken to Ireland.

In 2008, an Irish passport was issued to the daughter under a new name. The papers to obtain the passport included a signature by her father, which he claims was forged.

The Supreme Court in New York has granted an order, under the Hague Convention and Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act, that the child should be brought to the court following the kidnapping allegations.

The father fears that as an Irish passport holder, the girl may be taken to any of the other 27 EU member states.

He said: "I'm really annoyed that the Irish authorities are not doing more. They should have been more pro-active, especially in the light of recent events where people were getting forged Irish passports.

"I miss my daughter very much and want to see her."

A spokesman for the father said that in order to prove the passport papers were forged, the father would have to bring the matter to the Irish courts, therefore losing the US jurisdiction.

The spokesman said: "The father's only concern is the welfare and health of his daughter.

"There seem to be double standards. Here is a father who informs the Irish authorities that his signature has been forged on the passport, and is told he must take the extraordinary step of coming to the Irish courts and proving it.

"And yet when Ireland suspects Israel may have been involved in passport fraud, it represented the interests of its citizens by itself protecting the passport system and acting on behalf of anyone whose name may have been used in a forged passport."

A spokeswoman from the Department of Foreign Affairs said it would not comment on individual cases.